Trump signs $1.1 trillion spending bill, avoiding shutdown

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Conservatives not happy with GOP spending concessions

David Mercer and Brad Blakeman debate the tentative government budget deal

President Trump on Friday signed a $1.1 trillion spending bill that keeps the government funded through September, preventing a shutdown ahead of the midnight Friday deadline.

The Senate passed the bill Thursday after it had gone through the House on Wednesday. Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at the White House press briefing Friday that the president had signed the bill earlier in the day.

The bill marks Trump's first major piece of legislation. As the bill averted a shutdown, party leaders on both sides of the aisle tried to claim victory over its contents.

The bill includes $15 billion more for the Pentagon and $1.5 billion for border security. However, it upset conservatives by not including funding for construction of a wall on the southern border. Democrats also scored key victories by keeping funding for “sanctuary cities” and Planned Parenthood.

The sweeping, 1,665-page bill also increases spending for NASA, medical research, and federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI.

Trump took to Twitter earlier this week to complain about the bipartisan process that produced the measure but changed course to crow about additional spending for the military and border security.

One of Trump's tweets advocated for a "good shutdown" this fall to fix the "mess" that produced the bill, though he appeared at the White House just hours later to boast that it was a big win for him.

Congressional Republicans -- motivated in great measure by fear of a politically damaging government shutdown -- worked closely with minority party Democrats to produce the measure, which made only small changes to most accounts covered by the measure.

But many rank-and-file Republicans saw the bill as a lost opportunity for a fight that could have produced victories on the wall and punishing "sanctuary" cities that fail to cooperate with immigration authorities.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.